How did the first scuba divers fin swim?

[Brendon]

I’m wondering why you chose to use 1992 as some type of break or tipping point. Is it the introduction of mix into the sport diving world, cause it was 92/93 that we started diving 25-35% He mixes on air tables, or, is it some item or techniques coming out of the Florida caves that makes your date important to you?

Alot has changed since then manufacturing, computers, materials, design, weight, parts availabilty, serviceability by LDS's etc.

Not to mention anything older would be 20yrs old and by most definitions an antique.. Next year it will be 1993 for the new cutoff date, for me...

 

[Doc]

I always assumed that finned scuba divers from the beginning swam in the familiar way like the legs of the crawl stroke.

This is likely what they were using....

Notice the leather components- including the hinge device between the sole plate and the flipper. (Umm, okay, fin. I didn't get the update on that one)
Could be the world's first "split fin".

 

[Splitlip]

I always thought they were called frogmen because of the "frog feet" they wore, not the style of kicking they used


1951 - An Expert Diver
"Professor Hiatt and I wore face masks and the Fisheries Director, Vernon Brock, who ordinarily wore strong glasses, had special underwater goggles with ground lenses. Mr. Brock also wore frog's feet and had a spear.

I always thought it was because the divers, like frogs, were "amphibious"? Don't flame me. IJS.

 

[captain]

Yes I can. Cousteau and Gagnan discovered that placement of the exhaust valve next to the diaphragm was critical to allowing the regulator to deliver air to the diver on demand in any position . A demand regulator Gagnan had originally designed to deliver natural gas to an auto engine was first tried but it would only work with the diver in one position. Once the exhaust valve was positioned next to the diaphragm the regulator worked in all position. That placement of the exhaust valve was what the patent on the regulator was based on.
Yes the demand regulator was around for a long time, Cousteau and Gagnan discovered how make it work as true diving regulator that allowed the diver to swim in any position without unnecessary loss of air to a free flow.
By the way, my 50 year old regulators work pretty dam good.

 

[Wantonmien]

Interesting to read of the early days - and would be interested to hear thoughts on where scuba diving might progress to in the next 30 years ~ will we ever be able to dive without the tanks/masks/regs ?

As for origins of 'frogmen' - that's easy, my dad was ex naval and last position before demob 40 years back was his looking after a part of naval diver training in UK. I remember asking him as a kid why they called the divers frogmen, and he assured me that it was due to fact if the divers failed training the legs were BBQ'd, put on the menu as "frogs legs" and served up in the naval mess/canteen - surely my dad wouldn't have been fibbing to me as a kid would he !!

cheers

 

[Seraphimx]

This is likely what they were using....

Notice the leather components- including the hinge device between the sole plate and the flipper. (Umm, okay, fin. I didn't get the update on that one)
Could be the world's first "split fin".

Isn't that the older model of the Force Fins?

 

[Paladin]

To say that equipment made before 1992 is impractical borders on snobbery, in my opinion. Most of the equipment I own was made or designed in the '70s or before and it can take me anywhere that any of the new stuff can. Not only that, a good many of the so-called "modern" regulators still use the same parts and function the same way as their predecessors from back in the '60s. My 1959 Aqua-Master, my 1976 Aquarius and my various Conshelfs are still just as viable for diving as ever and, in some respects, superior to some of the newer regs.

 

[Gilldiver]

Alot has changed since then manufacturing, computers, materials, design, weight, parts availabilty, serviceability by LDS's etc.

Not to mention anything older would be 20yrs old and by most definitions an antique.. Next year it will be 1993 for the new cutoff date, for me...

You might be surprised to find that the only thing that has changed is electronics and techniques. Open circuit equipment has not really advanced much since the early 70’s. All that really changes is that there has been materials substitutions which were done to lower the unit cost of manufacturing, not to better the unit.

The biggest changes to any open circuit regulator has been the addition of more HP and LP ports. I’ll go a bit further, the Kirby Morgan helmets are still fitted with the Super Flow 2nd stage which is itself a modification of the early 1970’s US Divers Conshelf 2nd stage with a breathing adjustment knob much like a SCUBA Pro 109 2nd stage. This 2nd stage has not changed in 30+ years.

 

[captain]

When a manufacture of a product says it is new and improved it usually means they have found a way to make it for less money and sell it for more money.

 

[Adventurediver]

I´m very please to reply about this "hot" question.

▪ Note that I'm a diver with about 6000 dives especially made in uw caves and in any other field, competition, cinema, tv, commercial, fishing and teaching, I'm a lover of history and tecnology and so I have read many books and manuals. Visit my account and relative articles writed in italian wikipedia Abyssadventurer
▪ To well understand about SCUBA diving evolution obviously need to well know the Italian uw dive History, becouse is from there that the modern diving era was created and also before with the helmet or hard hat diver, in italian language simple Palombaro.
▪ Italian divers was very well know and appreciated. Very famous in the world was in 1930 the incredible italian divers team of Alberto Gianni, the inventor of the deco chamber and many other deep diving device, members of the SORIMA salvage company, see the salvage several books of mr David Scott like "The Egypt gold", "Seventy Fathom Deep" and the "Artiglio" ship realative articles. Before with the roman era very well know were the salvage team of "Urinatores". The SCUBA diving era (this is an american acronym but the correct word before was the italian ARO and after the Cousteu inventions the ARA diving) born from Liguria region and the closest south coast of France. All the first underwater diving equipment factory was established in Liguria region, mostly in Genova and close to, see Mares, Techisub, Cressisub and Scubapro and before the Salvas, the Cirio sub, the GSD and the many other and the only Milanese was the Pirelli becouse it's rubber industry and for that the Pirelli then produced all the diving equipment set and more the inflatables boats becouse the first divers needed it. Afterward in France Cousteau and Gagnan ideated the first one stage (Mistral) and after the two stage (Aquilon) air regulator creating the ARA (auto respiratore ad aria) both produced by Technisub/Aqualung partnership. So we are proud and we breath about the uw diving atmosphere from when we born being part of this great tradition.
▪ First argument is very clear: why frog man? in italian uomo rana.
▪ Curious answer: for the color of the skin? Anthony Appleyard added this contribute "their appearance in black rubber suits and swimfins" changing my "an underwater swimming style similar to that of frogs". It is note the frogs are green and not black, and the frogs have no swimfins.
▪ All the italian old divers licenced by italian fishing federation FIPS (now FIPSAS), founder and part of CMAS, the only organization in Italy until the end of '70 years to use a diving manual ("Scendete sott'acqua con me" edited about 1959, a mix of tech and novels, and the evoluted "Manuale Federale di Immersione" by Duilio Marcante edited by LaCuba in 1979), know exactly that if you do not make the perfect skills of both surface and underwater swimming with frog style, italian nuoto a rana, at that period it was not possible to continue the course, becouse for that proud italian diving teachers the frog style (breast stroke), with the holding breath skills, was foundamental for a perfect diver becouse it is the most efficient underwater swim metod without fins. This was becouse the genoeses Duilio Marcante with Ferraro (Founder of Technisub) ( Luigi Ferraro) Gold Medal for military underwater missions, and the other first instructors were part of the military diving team of the World War II. So the members of first sport diving organization asked to them to write the first diving manual. Obviously that manual was a mix of military and fishing examples of that new sport with the experience of the WWII and becouse the fishing opportunity was the great motivation of the new modern divers.
▪ To know the story:
▪ Before there was the hard hat divers, about '20 years then the italian Dario Gonzatti, friend of Marcante, invented the mask using a piece of a tyre rubber gluing it with a piece of glass and start to sperafishing, and the only way to move without the flippers was to swim with the frog style, holding the breath and after adapting and using the ARO from the Siebe and Gorman. The ligurians started to use this system and exploded the "uw fishing fever" with many fans of this new sport in Liguria producing also home made equipment with pieces of wood and or rubber. The italians military palombaroes, headquarterd in LaSpezia, about the '30 years noted that and they start to use that new way obviously walking like the palombaroes was until that moment used to do, but becouse they noted that it was no necessary to stay on the bottom with heavy shoes and than they can "fly" also becouse no more tethered, the only way was to swim like a frog (everybody is free to try). And for this obvious appareance, every body in Italy know, they was nicknamed "Gli uomini rana". In the same period a french guy invented the first pair of rubber fins exactly coping the frog foot with the shape of a frog feet, so very short and impossible to use kicking (to remember there was made also several pair of gloves with the same shape very similar with the Leonardo da Vinci design Leonardo da Vinci - Guanto palmato - museoscienza. The military team start to use this kind of flippers, made under secret by Pirelli with the same shape, and started to use them obviously swimming with a frog style like they was trained in swimming pool and using to do when they was autonoming learning, adding also the real apparence when they was using both frog shaped gloves and fins confirming the nickname of frog man. These kinds of fins was not efficent and so after the war Ferraro and Cressi created finally the longest models finally starting to swim kicking becouse obviously was not efficent to swim with such longest fins like frogs see: Rondine Fins | Luigi Ferraro and discovering the more best efficiency in move forward.
▪ If somebody want to read about the frog style lessons in the manuale federale di immersione of Marcante is sold now in ebay at Manuale federale di Immersione with another interesting diving book of same author here Questo é lo sport sub sometime it is possible to find also the original manual "Scendete sott'acqua con me".

If could help visit this short history about fins first know inventor http://www.hdsitalia.com/articoli/34_pinne.pdf

▪ Hoping to have made enough light about this argument I say hello to every body

Adventurediver Alghero sardinia